CK Hutchison shelves telco unit listing to focus on asset sales, sources say

* Had been weighing London, Hong Kong listing

* Unlikely to happen ​in near ⁠term, say sources

* Conglomerate was also exploring sales ​in different markets

HONG KONG/LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings is unlikely ​to ‌move ahead with plans to list its global telecoms business, and will focus instead on selling individual assets, three ⁠people with knowledge of the matter said. The company had been weighing ⁠listing the business in London and Hong ​Kong as soon as the third quarter, after spinning it off from the group, Reuters reported in January. That is now unlikely to happen in the near term after CK Hutchison decided to sell its 49% ​stake in ‌a British joint venture with Vodafone last week, one of the biggest pieces of its global telco business, the sources said.

CK Hutchison did not respond to a request for comment.

CHALLENGE OF INCLUDING UK ASSET

The conglomerate founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing had been simultaneously exploring sales of those telco assets in different ​markets and opted for that option as it made financial sense, the sources said. A listing of the ‌telco business which included the Three UK asset, which was loss-making as of 2024, would have been challenging in today's volatile market, two of the ‌sources said. CK Hutchison had been eyeing London as a primary listing venue and Hong Kong as a secondary venue for its telecoms businesses in Europe, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia that could be valued ​at around $20 billion, Reuters reported previously. The group was also exploring merging its Italian telecom unit Wind Tre with the Italian operations ‌of French telecoms group Iliad, Reuters reported in October. The group tapped Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank to work on the listing option and Morgan Stanley to explore asset sales, Reuters reported.

GS and Citi declined to ⁠comment. Deutsche ⁠Bank and Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.

CK Hutchison ‌has been focusing on enhancing the group's returns. Last year it announced a deal to sell most of its global ports ​business, including assets near ​the Panama Canal, for an equity value of $22.8 billion to a BlackRock-led consortium.

That ‌sale has been progressing slowly due to complex regulatory clearance and China's request to include a Chinese investor in the buyer group. (Reporting by Kane Wu and Clare Jim in Hong Kong; Amy-Jo Crowley in London and Elvira Pollina in Milan. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Andrew Heavens)